Only one out of eight matches turned out to be decisive in Round 4 of the ongoing FIDE Grand Prix-Belgrade Leg in Serbia, and this one decisive match proved to be the draw breaker in Group D.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave produced the winning game versus Alexandr Predke, with the victory giving the French ace the solo leadership of Group D. Anish Giri also is in solo command of Group B, which ha leads ahead of Nikita Vitiugov, with two rounds to go.
In Group A, Sam Shankland and Dmitry Andreikin are leading after Shankland missed a winning continuation against Etienne Bacrot in their Round 4 game. In Group C, Richard Rapport and Santosh Gujrathi Vidit are also leading with 2½ points apiece ahead of Vladimir Fedoseev who has 2 points.
Here are the group standings:
Group A 1. Shankland, Andreikin, 2½; 3. Bacrot, 2; 4. Grischuk,1.
Group B 1. Giri, 3; 2. Vitiugov, 2; 3-4. Harikhrisna, Tabatabaei, 1½.
Group C 1-2. Rapport, Vidit, 2½; 3. Fedoseev, 2; 4. Shirov, 1.
Group D 1. Vachier-Lagrave, 2½; 2-3. Mamedyarov, Yu, 2; Predke, 1½.
Shankland,S (2708)-Bacrot,E (2642) [D20]
Belgrade A (4.2) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 b5 4.a4 c6 5.Nc3 b4 6.Nb1 Ba6 7.Qc2 Nf6 8.Nd2 Qxd4 9.Ngf3 b3 10.Nxd4 bxc2 11.f3 e6 12.Nxc2 Be7 13.Nxc4 0-0 14.Be3 c5 15.Ne5 Bxf1 16.Rxf1 Nfd7 17.Nc4 Nc6 18.Ke2 Nb6 19.Nd2 Rab8 20.b3 Rfd8 21.Rfc1 f5 22.Rab1 fxe4 23.fxe4 Rb7 24.Ne1 Nd4+ 25.Bxd4 Rxd4 26.Nef3 Rb4 27.Ne5 Rd4 28.Nc6 Rxd2+ 29.Kxd2 Bg5+ 30.Ke2 Bxc1 31.Rxc1 Nd7 32.Rd1 Nf6 33.Rd8+ Kf7 34.Ra8 Kg6 35.Rxa7 Rxb3 36.a5 Nxe4 37.Re7 Kf6 38.a6 Nc3+ 39.Kd2 Ra3 40.a7 Nb5 41.Rb7 Ra2+ 42.Ke3 Nxa7 43.Rxa7 Rxg2 44.Ra5 ½-½
Tabatabaei,M (2623)-Giri,A (2772) [B30]
Belgrade B (4) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be3 Be7 8.c3 0-0 9.Nd2 a6 10.Be2 Nxd4 11.cxd4 b5 12.a4 bxa4 13.d5 exd5 14.exd5 Bg5 15.Bxg5 Qxg5 16.Rxa4 Bb7 17.Bf3 Bxd5 18.Ne4 Bxe4 19.Bxe4 Rab8 20.Rxa6 Rxb2 21.Qxd7 Nf4 22.g3 Rd2 23.Qf5 Qxf5 24.Bxf5 Rd5 25.Bxh7+ Kxh7 26.gxf4 Rd4 27.Ra3 Rxf4 28.Rh3+ Kg8 29.Kg2 g6 30.Rf3 Rxf3 31.Kxf3 ½-½
Shirov,A (2704)-Vidit,SG (2727) [C80]
Belgrade C (4.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Ng5 Bxg5 13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qxg5 0-0 15.Qg4 Qd5 16.Bh6 Nxe5 17.Qh4 Rfd8 18.Qf6 Rd7 19.h3 Nc4 20.Rad1 Qe5 21.Qxe5 Nxe5 22.Bf4 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 Nc4 24.b3 Nd6 25.Rd4 Kf7 26.Bxd6 cxd6 27.Rxd6 Rc8 28.Rxa6 h5 29.a4 e3 30.fxe3 bxa4 31.Rxa4 Rxc2 32.Rf4+ Ke7 33.b4 Rb2 34.h4 e5 35.Rc4 Kd6 36.e4 Rb1+ 37.Kf2 Rb2+ 38.Kf3 Rb3+ 39.Ke2 Rb2+ 40.Kd3 Rxg2 41.b5 Rg3+ 42.Kc2 Ra3 43.Rc6+ Kd7 44.Rc5 Kd6 45.Rd5+ Kc7 46.Rxe5 Rh3 47.Rg5 Rxh4 48.Kd3 Rh1 49.Rxg6 h4 50.Rc6+ Kd7 51.Kd4 h3 52.Rc2 Kd6 53.e5+ Ke6 54.b6 Rb1 55.Rc6+ Kd7 56.Rh6 h2 57.Rxh2 Rxb6 ½-½
Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Yu,Y (2713) [D38]
Belgrade D (4.1) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 c5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc6 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.a4 Ne5 14.Be2 Rd8 15.Qb3 Qg6 16.Kh1 Rb8 17.a5 Bg4 18.f3 Bf5 19.Rfd1 Nc6 20.Rd2 Qg5 21.Rb2 Nxd4 22.cxd4 b6 23.Bd3 Bxd3 24.Qxd3 bxa5 25.Re2 Rdc8 26.Qa6 Rc3 27.Qxa5 Rbc8 28.Rae1 Rc2 29.h3 Rxe2 30.Rxe2 Qg3 ½-½
Predke,A (2682)-Vachier-Lagrave,M (2761) [B95]
Belgrade D (4.2) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.0-0-0 Qa5 9.h4 Bd7 10.Bc4 Nc6 11.Bb3 h6 12.Be3 Ne5 13.Qe2 Rc8 14.Kb1 b5 15.f4 Neg4 16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5 Nxe5 18.Bxh6 Rxh6 19.Qxe5 Qc7 20.Qe2 Qf4 21.Rh3 Rc5 22.Re3 Qg4 23.Nf3 Bc6 24.a4 Kf8 25.axb5 axb5 26.g3 b4 27.Na2 Rf5 28.Nd4 Qxe2 29.Rxe2 Bf3 30.Rxe6 Bxd1 31.Rxe7 Bxc2+ 32.Kxc2 Rc5+ 33.Kd3 Kxe7 34.Nxb4 Nd7 35.Nd5+ Kf8 36.Nf5 Rg6 37.Nde3 Rb6 38.Nd4 Ne5+ 39.Ke4 Nc6 40.Bd5 Ne7 41.b3 Rg6 42.b4 Rc3 43.Bc4 Rxg3 44.Ndc2 Rg4+ 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxd6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxd5 2.Qxd5#; 1…Qe6 2.Qxe6#; 1…Qxe7/d4/xg7 2.Qxf4#; 1…Qxf5 2.Rc4#; 1…Qxd6+ 2.Nxd6#; 1…Qf6 2.Nxf6#; 1…Kd4 2.Nxc3#; 1…Kxf5 2.Qg6#.
